Aaron Pico has come a long way since that embarrassing debut.
There’s a reason why there’s so much hype surrounding Aaron Pico. He’s just that good.
At 21 and 2-1 in professional MMA, Pico was matched up against 26-fight veteran Lee Morrison at Bellator 199. Talent trumped experience on this occasion as the man Bob Cook famously labelled “the greatest MMA prospect I’ve ever seen” secured a brutal knockout victory in the first round.
Pico landed a devastating left hand to the liver that sent Morrison reeling backwards. Once his adversary took a seat on the ground, Pico moved in for the kill. He calmly walked over and landed follow-up shots until the referee awarded him the victory at 1:10 mark of the opening stanza.
https://twitter.com/FancyCombat/status/995488950939680768
After the win, Pico explained why he was so motivated to finish Morisson quickly. The fight was somewhat personal.
“His coach said that you’re a you-know-what if you get knocked out by a body shot. So I told my dad and my girlfriend in the hotel room, I said, ‘I’m going to knock him out with a body shot.”
Pico is beginning to make these stunning body-shot KOs a habit. He entered into this bout off the back of a thunderous knockout victory against Shane Krutchen.
That submission loss to Zach Freeman in his debut seems like a very distant memory now.
